Trick or Treat

Little Red had fun trick or treating with the Big Bad Wolf tonight. She was much more into it this year than ever before. Candy is a lot more exciting at this age.

We've got a walker!

Bugaboo started taking steps, up to 14 at a time (yeah, we're dorks and we count them), about a month ago. We were sure he'd be running all over the place by his birthday this week, but then, he decided he had gotten that down and took a 2 week vacation from walking.

But this morning, he just stood up and took off across the room! (The picture isn't the greatest quality, but you can't control when and where your kid decides to stand up and go.)

Sneak Peak

Last night was our church Halloween party, which we were in charge of. Dinner for 200 people.Everything turned out great and we had a fantastic turnout. But I didn't manage to get a good picture of our costumes, so that will have to wait until Halloween. But here's a little preview.

Dads and Diapers

No, this isn't about dads changing diapers. 2 seperate stories.

First, we had a great time with Daddy-o at the Gardens on Wednesday. We've been trying to go all fall, but its been raining the last 5 Saturdays (or is it 6? I've lost count). And since they close this weekend, we thought we'd take advantage of Daddy-o being out of school (although he has so much to do by Tuesday, I'm sure he could have used those 3 hours as well, but you have to have fun once in awhile, right?)

Now for the diapers. No pictures to go with this story because I'm not surehow appropriate it is to put naked baby pictures on the web (but I DO have the pics for his scrapbook--well, not of the last event, but got a cute one beforehand). But for everyone who loved the poop story in the beginning, here's another fun one.

Bugaboo has figured out how to get his velcro diapers off. So the other day, Bugaboo was running around pantless after nap and saw the diaper pail. In the 15 seconds I turned around, he took off his diaper and threw it in the pail. Pretty smart, huh? AlthoughBugaboo has developed a fascination with putting EVERYTHING in the diaper pail, so it may have just been a coincidence.

I thought this was pretty funny so I grabbed the camera and got a couple pictures of my naked-from-the-waist-down boy by the diaper pail. Then I went to put the camera away and came back to my naked boy standing over a pile of poop. Apparently he just didn't want to get his diaper dirty. Thank goodness for the lack of carpeting in this house--messes really are easier to clean up.

First snow

Well, at least the first snow to stick. There were some flurries a few weeks ago.

We woke up Sunday morning to a couple inches of snow on the car and lawn (it had already melted from the pavement and the rest only lasted for a few hours). Winter is on the way!

And I apologize for the picture quality. Been having some problems with camera settings getting changed lately and I keep forgetting to check before I start shooting.

More Scrapping

I've been on a roll lately. If I could only get myself to go back and do all the pre-kid photos I have laying around. But they just don't seem as fun anymore :)

Next craft post better feature something different--I have a backlog of projects I need to get to and some of them have deadlines that are almost here, so time to put away the pictures for a few days.

French Bread

I haven't posted any food lately. Honestly, I haven't been doing a lot of actual cooking to post about. It's just too hard during the week when I'm on my own until the moment that we sit down to eat (and Daddy-o doesn't always make it home right then either), and even on the weekends we don't really feel like doing a ton of dishes after we get the kids to bed so I've been trying to cut back--lots of simple soups and dishes that I can make double batches and freeze (and we've been finishing off the meals my mom helped me get in the freezer before she left.)

But I do make bread pretty much every week. I love homemade bread. It used to be a special occasion thing, but then when Bean had her milk and soy allergies, it was hard to find bread that she and I could eat. And then the same thing happened with Bugaboo so I've just been in the habit of making bread pretty often and like to keep it up. Plus, there is just nothing quite as satisfying as pulling a beautiful loaf out of the oven.

This started out as my mom's french bread recipe, but once again, I've made some changes, although our favorite is still the original, but this version is healthier and so the all-white flour version only happens when we have company come for dinner. This recipe is so easy if you have some type of heavy duty mixer (I love my KitchenAid!)

Whole Grain French Bread

2 packets of yeast (2.25 teaspoons each)

2.5 cups of warm water

2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix together and let the yeast dissolve--you should see some bubbles.

3 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup of oats

1/2 cup of oat bran

Mix well and then switch to a dough hook.

1 Tablespoon salt

2 Tablespoons oil

2-3 cups of white flour--add until the dough clings together in a ball and is not too sticky to touch.

Turn mixer on every 10 minutes for a few seconds. Go through 5 cycles. After the last one, split the dough into 2 and form 2 loaves (you can use loaf pans, or use a cookie sheet and make traditional french bread shaped loaves.) Let rise until about double (usually takes around 45 min, but will totally depend on the temperature in your house.)

Just before baking, brush the top with an egg white to get the sheen (you don't have to do this, and I usually don't unless we are having people over or I'm giving it away--it just makes it prettier).

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 min.

This makes phenomenal toast and if you let it sit a couple days it also makes great french toast (we don't always manage to do that and I end up having to use a fresh loaf, which also works).

"I think I'm starting to be like a mama"

Bean has said this to me several times over the last couple weeks--when she helps Bugaboo reach a toy, gives him some food, or something else "mama-like". This was one of my favorites--she was trying to carry 4 of her babies and was having a hard time because she didn't have enough hands. So I helped her out with the sling and ta-da! We have a fullfledged mama!

(And no, it hasn't been particularly hot here lately, but those were the only clothes I could find for her to paint in at the moment.)

Park Day

We have to get out and enjoy the park while the weather is still nice. It was a lot cooler yesterday, but still nice enough to play outside, have a picnic, and feed the ducks. I don't have any pictures of the actual duck feeding because the ducks got a little too excited about the food and the whole incident ended with Bean yelling, "Run! Run for your lives!" so I was too busy saving my children to pull out the camera.

Just a nice sunday walk

This is my first attempt at uploading a video--I can't beleive how easy it is! Now if I could just get the software onto our computer so I can upload videos from the actual video camera, I'd feel very technologically advanced :) But hey, its only been 2.5 years.

This should clear up a few things for people who have not had the priveledge of seeing our 2 kiddos together lately:

1) They are crazy! And LOUD!

2) They are a great match for each other. I used to worry about anyone keeping up with Bean, but I think Bugaboo is up for the challenge.

3) Their laughs are so contagious--I love it! There is nothing that can get our whole family laughing as hard as Bugaboo's deep, chuckly belly laugh.

And now, Bean wants to say hi: DSAQXCBM

Hidey-ho, neighbor!

Anyone remember Wilson, the ever present, yet never fully seen neighbor on Home Improvement? Here's Mini-Wilson:

Riding the Cow Train

Yup, that is a tractor-pulled ride made up of cow cars our kids are riding in. We spent the morning at the pumpkin patch up at Thanksgiving Point. Every year, the MBA spouse association does a field trip there and we get to play in the corn maze, pick out a pumpkin, and ride the cow train.

Now, even funnier picture: Last year, Bean and I went and did the same thing. Only imagine me riding in the little cow car with her . . .3 weeks before Bugaboo popped out. Seriously, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get out of the car! Too bad I don't have a photo of that.

Another funny part--the Chicken Show. Last year, Bean was fascinated. She could have watched the singing chickens for hours. Maybe Bugaboo is a little too young still, but he just wasn't as entertained. Seemed more concerned than anything.
And then there is the big corn pit. I don't know if it was where I grew up, or if these are a new thing, but I'd never seen a "sandbox" filled with corn kernels. But the kids LOVE it! Almost as good as the beach. Well, as far the the digging and finding corn in weird places afterwards.
And the giant bounce house, without the house. At least this year they were smart enough to have two, one for the 40 inch and shorter club. Cause have you ever seen 2 and 3 year olds in a bounce house with 8 year olds? Not a fun sight. But of course the preschoolers can't stay away, no matter how many times they come out crying.

Fall projects

Just had to show off a couple recent crafts we've done.



The first was something Bean and I did together. I was put in charge of starting a blog with fun activities to do with kids for the MBASA (spouse association), so I now get to search out the seasonal crafts and fun things we should be doing and I thought I'd try some out with Bean. (And although some of these are specific to our location, there are fun ideas for anyone with kids--you might want to check it out here. After we made our leaf rubbings, I needed something to do with them (I'm all about functional art), so we made them into cards (and a couple of you will be seeing one of these in the mail in the next few days :)

And then, of course, another scrapbook layout. I LOVE this picture of my two guys. And I got a collection of paper by BasicGrey that I've been dying to start using. And even more exciting, Daddy-o has promised to add his own little note at the bottom of the journaling. It always makes me happy when I know my kids will have record of his involvement in their lives, and not just the crazy woman who writes down every random thing they do or say.

Bookworm

Bean loves books. She "reads" anything with words or pictures and always has. I loved all the pictures we got of her as a tiny baby, looking through her books so intently, as if she could actually make heads or tails of them. Here are a couple of my flashback favorites.

Disappointment

We've been back for 1.5 months, and just got to the babyproofing.

And someone does not approve.

Lucky for him (and he figured this out about 30 seconds later), we only did the cupboards under the sink. So all the random cooking utensils, bags, towels, washclothes, placemats, and kids utensils are still fair game.

October Update and Contest

Its the first of the month again, and even though I don't have much to update on, I feel like I should do a "state of the family" address or something.

Things are in there normal state of chaos around here. My mom left on Friday after being with us for a month. We kept pretty busy: running errands, sewing, drying fruit, and cooking up a storm. I have a well-stocked freezer which should help us get through the dinner hour for the next month (when she returns--yay for moms!). Now I'm just trying to finish up the projects we didn't get to: more sewing for Halloween and new babies, painting, crafty projects. I love doing it all, but get a little stressed when my list of projects gets so big. Time to start crossing things off!

Daddy-o is crazy busy at school. A lot of people told us last year that we just had to survive the first year and then everything would relax. Well, I'm not sure what we're doing wrong, but this doesn't feel much like relaxing. The added task of finding full-time employment has not helped lighten the load. More about that later.



Bean is just our little dancing queen who keeps trying to grow up on me. She even told me after she helped her brother with something, "I think I'm starting to be like a mama now." She was very interested in all the sewing going on and spent one afternoon doing her own sewing alongside Rara.

She is also just seeming way too grown up to me in so many ways each day. Like when she just marched off down the sidewalk, ready to take a walk by herself (I know, a lot of people have to worry about their kids doing this from the time they can walk, but I've been lucky that despite all the things that she is, Bean is not a runner.) And anyway, it was just something in her walk.

And Bugaboo--spends a lot of his day defending himself from the exhuberence of his sister. He's not quite walking, but has adopted a new method of moving around that I think he sees as walking--he kneels and then shuffles across the room on his knees. It is no where near as efficient as his crawling, but I guess since he can look up at us as he goes, he probably feels very grown up. He also got to try his first popscicle (and that's a first for me as a mom--I don't give my 11 month olds sugar, but I was so tired of telling him he couldn't have everything we were eating that day). He took the whole thing very seriously, but loved it.

Now, about the job search. The interviews are starting, job offers and rejections are beginning to come in. We currently have not a clue where we are going, so I thought it would be fun to start taking bets. Where in the world will the nutty family end up? Post your guess. Closest one will win a prize (and BTW, Stacy, I have your prize from the job description contest--good guessing on almost all of them! I'll send it off this week. And in case anyone else is intested, the answers in order: substitute teacher, lift operator, life guard, lab tech, lab tech & swim instructor, substitute teacher, veternarian assistant).







You'll know as soon as we do. Now just wish us luck that the answer will be coming soon.